Question re: Cavalry 1TB eSATA drive at buy.com.... [Archive]

JAYPB

11-13-08, 08:45 AM

jdmaxell

11-13-08, 09:23 AM

That is the one I use with my HR21. No problems so far. (9 months strong)
Mine came with a esata cable!

iceburg02

11-13-08, 10:03 AM

Have 2 in use now - no troubles to date

t_h

11-13-08, 10:38 AM

I bought one and honestly felt like it ran way too hot for my preferences, so I removed the drive and put it in an mx-1 case. Much cooler.

I put a smaller sata drive in the cavalry case and use that for occasional backups. Lost the one year warranty on the cavalry unit but the OEM WD drive inside is backed for 3 years by WD.

So it worked out pretty well all around for me. Cost me about $30 extra for the mx-1 case but peace of mind on something that i'll use heavily for the next couple of years was worth it.

dbronstein

11-13-08, 10:45 AM

I'm using it with an HR20-100 and had no problems for 9 months so far. Mine also came with the cable.

newsposter

11-13-08, 10:47 AM

i never thought of expanding my hr20 but can someone tell me is it just as ez as getting this drive and plugging it in with the included cables? (i dont even remember what slots we have open on the hr20 :))

Stuart Sweet

11-13-08, 10:48 AM

You might want to read this post:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=145065

Mr. Brott is a very knowledgeable man indeed.

David MacLeod

11-13-08, 10:55 AM

You might want to read this post:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=145065

Mr. Brott is a very knowledgeable man indeed.

also some good info here:
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=142735

tcusta00

11-13-08, 11:08 AM

Wow, what a price! I just picked one up for my home network... I was going to wait for Black Friday deals but this is gonna be hard to beat. Thanks!

newsposter

11-13-08, 11:10 AM

also some good info here:
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=142735

thanks for scaring me ! :eek2:

erasing upon reboot...ick

but the unit would be on UPS so i guess from what i read no one had erasure issues while on a UPS

raoul5788

11-13-08, 11:24 AM

Buy.com has a 1TB external eSATA drive at a pretty amazing price...but I wanted to know if anyone has used it for a HR2X hookup...or knows if it will work with the HR2X DVR's....:

http://www.buy.com/prod/cavalry-1tb-dual-interface-usb-2-0-esata-external-hard-drive/q/loc/101/210239363.html

I don't think it comes with an eSata cable, but the price is what caught my eye....

Thanks!

That is a great price, much cheaper than I paid from them just a few months ago. Beware though, that buy.com is VERY slow to ship and even worse with customer service. I couldn't get a straight answer out of anybody as to why it too two weeks to ship mine. YMMV

tcusta00

11-13-08, 11:40 AM

That is a great price, much cheaper than I paid from them just a few months ago. Beware though, that buy.com is VERY slow to ship and even worse with customer service. I couldn't get a straight answer out of anybody as to why it too two weeks to ship mine. YMMV

+1. I only purchased from buy.com once before and it was a nightmare since I needed it within their quoted timeframe and that didn't happen. I've set my expectation level pretty low on this one and I'm not in a rush.

I've also noticed they basically copied the format of Amazon's site almost exactly, save for the color schemes. Wonder if they're now related.

dbronstein

11-13-08, 11:50 AM

I bought mine from buy.com and received it in less than a week.

newsposter

11-13-08, 12:31 PM

houskamp

11-13-08, 12:35 PM

time isnt critical for me. Do they ship UPS? If so, any way to change that. my ups guy hates me..left 800 dollar box on the 1st step instead of running it up the steps or using a cart. This is about the 10th complaint i have against him

and is there a reason you just cant disconnect the esata and you have to turn off the drive to re enable the internal?
Basically the switch between drives is like "boot order" on a pc.. it checks one then the other, it picks external 1st if it exists.. so there is no "live" switch capability..

houskamp

11-13-08, 12:54 PM

i guess i dont understand, if the esata disconnected but still plugged into the AC outlet, how the hr20 knows it's still attached?
It doesn't.. but the switch has already been thrown when it booted up.. now it sees no drive at all and locks up.

newsposter

11-13-08, 01:25 PM

wow 181 at newegg...100 bucks is a great deal..i may have to do it!

hope I dont have to make a damaged box claim though

AVPhan

11-13-08, 04:08 PM

though minority but had trouble a couple of times (after less than a year).

1 time, totally lost the disk, DVR would not recognize it. Ended up hooking up to PC to re-format (NTFS) and lost everything, hooked back to DVR, then worked.

3 months later, acted up same way again. Hooked up to PC, no dice. Lost everything again.

Sent in for service, they took a week, send me a different unit (different SN). Hooked up to PC, format, then totally lost, PC won't recognize it. Sent back, received unit back, PC will not recognize until hooked up to DVR, let DVR for mat (FAT), then PC would recognize. Gave up sending back to Cavalry. Use it for backup or maybe used the hard disk itself for internal PC.

Bought another brand 1TB for DVR.

Sackett

11-13-08, 04:52 PM

armophob

11-13-08, 05:26 PM

Nice find. I just ordered one. I like the matching blue light. Little tip. I searched for a coupon code and you can get another 5 bucks off if you find the get $5 off $100 Computer, Electronics, Clearance.

armophob

11-13-08, 07:07 PM

I have a question, they show the model as the CAXA3701T0 even though you go on Cavalry website and they do not even list this as one of their models. Also on buy.com they show a CAXE3701T0 for 151.99. What are the differences? On newegg for the CAXE3701T0 they have it for 139.99.

Here is what I could see:

CAXA3701T0 - USB 2.0 (USB 1.1 Compatible) interface/ comes with Stand/ Systems Requirements - USB port and eSATA port (to take advantage of the eSATA interface)

CAXM3701T0 - USB 2.0 (USB 1.1 compatible) and eSATA Interface/ comes with (1) SATA cable (1) eSATA bracket Stand

CAXE3701T0 - USB 2.0 (USB 1.1 compatible) and eSATA Interface/ comes with (1) SATA cable (1) eSATA bracket Stand

Looks like the difference is the sata cable included

schneid

11-13-08, 08:08 PM

If you score a good one, great.

I bought one from buy.com. There return policy is short.

I went through three. Cavalry's return process is slow and expensive and they will send you another returned and untested used drive.

The odds are good that you will get a good one. If not, your loss as there is no customer support. You place your bet and takes your chances.

newsposter

11-14-08, 06:46 AM

glad you mentioned that

Unless otherwise stated below, you have 14 days from the date your product left the warehouse (regardless of when you actually took delivery of the product) to get a valid RMA from our website and get your product to a shipper to return back to us. It does not have to be back in our warehouse within 14 days, but it does have to be in the possession of the shipper (along with the valid RMA). RMAs must be valid, unexpired, and issued for the product being returned

All products are subject to a 15% restocking fee

newegg is 15% too and

Items covered by this policy (products for which Newegg.com states "This item may be returned for a replacement or refund within 30 days only") must be returned to Newegg.com within 30 days of the invoice date for this policy to apply

schneid

11-14-08, 07:59 AM

Yep, that's what bit me. After it arrived, I had about a week to deal with it. I thought it might be a bad eSATA cable, so while waiting for it, the return window expired.

I then returned it to Calvary. The replacement died completely within two hours. Number three would reboot or lockup my HR every couple of hours and came in a case labeled as a 750mb drive rather than 1TB. Luckily, the drive was okay and has performed w/o problem after I moved it two an Antec MX-1.

At least I learned my lesson never to buy from buy.com again. I have read "real" Cavalry's come in retail boxes. Mine all came in brown boxes of different sizes with xeroxed instruction sheets. The cables were rubber-banded and loosely tossed in.

I pretty much always buy from Amazon anymore. Usually they have free shipping and if things go really bad, they pay all the shipping and give you ALL your money back.

newsposter

11-14-08, 10:11 AM

amazon pays return shipping? i had no idea.

I'm pretty sure i'm gonna pass on this. More space is a bad idea for me..i need to just knock down what i'm watching and not let tv be my life lol

dbronstein

11-14-08, 12:31 PM

amazon pays return shipping? i had no idea.

It depends on your reason for returning the item. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.

coolyman

11-18-08, 12:34 PM

Buy.com has a 1TB external eSATA drive at a pretty amazing price...but I wanted to know if anyone has used it for a HR2X hookup...or knows if it will work with the HR2X DVR's....:

http://www.buy.com/prod/cavalry-1tb-dual-interface-usb-2-0-esata-external-hard-drive/q/loc/101/210239363.html

I don't think it comes with an eSata cable, but the price is what caught my eye....

Thanks!

First, mine didn't come with an eSATA cable. No big deal since I'm using it with USB 2.0. My question is, when I click on the link it says the product is no longer sold. I stupidly didn't save the rebate information. Can someone provide it or give me a link to the form?? :bang

tcusta00

11-18-08, 01:13 PM

First, mine didn't come with an eSATA cable. No big deal since I'm using it with USB 2.0. My question is, when I click on the link it says the product is no longer sold. I stupidly didn't save the rebate information. Can someone provide it or give me a link to the form?? :bang

The link is in your order. If you go to your account and view recent orders it will be in there:

http://ak.buy.com/buy_assets/retail/pdfs/08Q4/1113-1116dk-bk_30cavalry.pdf

coolyman

11-18-08, 01:19 PM

The link is in your order. If you go to your account and view recent orders it will be in there:

http://ak.buy.com/buy_assets/retail/pdfs/08Q4/1113-1116dk-bk_30cavalry.pdf

:jumpingja

hdtvfan0001

11-18-08, 02:15 PM

This drive has been removed from the site and is no longer available as of today....

dotbombjoe

11-18-08, 03:44 PM

I bought three Cavalry units...one is a "2 TB" unit, the other are "1.5TB" units and I can say that I wouldn't buy them again if I had it all to do over again.

Two of the three units have failed since purchase less than a year ago. In one case, it appears that at least one of the drives failed and in the other, it appears that both drives have failed. All of the units I bought have two drives in them (and support RAID, which is how I had them configured).

They do have fans although they are of dubious quality...the third unit, which is still operational, had a fan failure which made the drive seize up after an hour or two. I eventually repaired the fan myself and it has been working fine ever since, but given my experience with the other two units, I would never recommend buying these things.

The price is tantalizing...but when you lose all your recordings because of a drive failure, you won't be thinking it was such a good deal.